Edge: PS4 Out Next Year in Europe, Small Touchpad and ‘Share Button’ on Controller, New PS Eye, Console More Powerful than Next Xbox

February 1, 2013
Written by Sebastian Moss

With the PS4’s official reveal likely to be at the Feb 20th PlayStation Meeting, publications are falling over themselves to quickly pump out all of the rumors they can this month. First the WSJ said that it would be out this year, and would have some sort of social focus, and now Edge have come out with some more information.

Edge claims that the PS4 will be out by the end of the year in the US and Japan, but due to the complexities involved in European distribution it will be out early next year there (argh!). “Sources close to the hardware” say that the next controller will be the same size as the DualShock 3, but have “a small touchpad in place of the existing Select, Start and PS buttons”, similar to the Vita’s rear touchpad. There will also apparently be a ‘Share’ button that launches a new feature that allows you to take screenshots or share video online. It seems that the PS4 will always record the last 15 minutes of what you’re playing, so that you can edit and broadcast it if you want.

Developers love the PS4 hardware, Edge claims, due to it being far more PC-like than the PS3. Allegedly, “in real terms Sony’s console is ‘slightly more powerful’ and ‘very simple to work with'”.

“Sony will also introduce a new, improved iteration of its PlayStation Eye peripheral, which remains compatible with the PlayStation Move controller,” Edge claims.

Again, this is a rumor, and should be treated as such, but the Share button does seem to match up with what the WSJ alluded to, and Edge does have a good track record with rumors.

Would you like the DualShock 4 to have a touch screen? Can you see yourself using the share button? Let us know in the comments below.